Venezuela Nationalizes Toilet Paper Factory

[NOTE: For those unfamiliar with the "Beavis and Butt-head" reference, see here and here.]
If this is an example of socialists taking over the "commanding
heights" of the economy, I am at a complete loss for words. To me at
least, toilet paper manufacturing as a strategic sector bog-gles
the mind, but it may make sense in Venezuela. It is no big secret that
the Chavistas have nationalized broad swathes of the Venezuelan economy.
Supply problems? Central planning will solve them, free market be
damned. From Economics 101, I was taught that price controls and import
controls create rather than alleviate goods shortages. Apparently this
stupid bourgeois logic holds no water in modern-day Venezuela. Silly me.
Instead of relenting
on government controls to remedy the supply situation for various goods
including toilet paper, the ultimate solution apparently involves
nationalizing these enterprises lock, stock and barrel. You got it--TP
users of Venezuela, unite!

On Saturday, Vice
President Jorge Arreaza announced the "temporary occupation" of the
Paper Manufacturing Company's plant in the state of Aragua. The aim, he
explained, is to review the "production, marketing and distribution (of)
toilet paper [...] The People's Defense
from the Economy will not allow hoarding or failures in the production
and distribution of essential commodities," the vice president said.

By the "People's
Defense," Arreaza was referring to a government agency created on
September 13 by President Nicolas Maduro to "defeat the economic war
that has been declared in the country," according to a report from
state-run ATV. This group is charged with looking at inefficiencies
across various industries in the nation, including foods and other
products, and taking action presumably in the South American nation's
best interests.

For what it's worth, Venezuela's leaders see a conspiracy to hoard toilet paper--presumably to, ah, dump them when prices have risen sufficiently:

But the government has
said private companies aren't doing their part, accusing them of
hoarding their products in hopes of selling it later at a higher price. They've also suggested the problem is tied to a broader conspiracy. "There is no deficiency
in production," Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming said in May
according to ATV, "but an excessive demand generating purchases by a
nervous population because of a media campaign."

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. To paraphrase Marx, the TP expropriators have been expropriated (or something like that).